This invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for improving the constitution of lipids in blood, use of an 8-chlorobenzothiazepine compound for preparing the composition and a method of improving the constitution of lipids in blood by employing the same. Hyperlipidemia has been known as one of the causes for various adult diseases, and hypolipidemic agents such as clofibrate [chemical name: ethyl 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methylpropanoate], probucol [chemical name: 4,4'-{(1-methylethylidene)bis(thio)}bis{2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)phenol}] , etc., have been used as curing and prophylactic agents therefor. Among hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia has a strong causal relationship particularly to arteriosclerosis. On the other hand, cholesterol exists in blood in the forms of very low density lipoprotein (hereinafter called VLDL) cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (hereinafter called LDL) cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (hereinafter called HDL) cholesterol, etc., and among them VLDL and LDL promote deposition of cholesterol in the walls of arteries, but HDL prevents the deposition of cholesterol, as is known in the art [Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 90, p. 85-91, 1979]. It has been also known that a negative correlation exists between HDL-cholesterol and incidence of ischemic heart disease, and that a person who has a high value of HDL-cholesterol will seldom suffer from ischemic heart disease (The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, vol. 88, p. 941, 1976).
The present invention, in view of the state of the art as described above, provides a novel pharmaceutical composition for improving the constitution of lipids in blood, which is capable of increasing HDL-cholesterol quantity in blood.